At a presentation in Madrid on Tuesday, March 5, his sons, Gonzalo and Rodrigo Garcia Barcha, unveiled the 120-page novel Until August written by the Colombian-born Nobel Prize winner in 2004.

It will be released in Spanish on Wednesday, which is Garcia Marquez’ birthday, and on March 12 in English, according to publisher Penguin Random House.

Before his death in 2014 aged 87, Garcia Marquez said the book was useless and should be “destroyed”, but his sons and his agents reviewed the various manuscripts and considered them to have a literary value that may not have been perceived by the author in the last few years of his life, marked by memory loss.

“For me it means that all of Gabo’s work has been published, that nothing is still pending and that in that sense he has closed a cycle,” Gonzalo Garcia Barcha told a news conference, using the name Garcia Marquez affectionately went by across Latin America.

Garcia Marquez was best known for One Hundred Years of Solitude, a dream-like, dynastic epic that helped him win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.

The new book tells the story of Ana Magdalena Bach who every August takes a ferry to an island to visit her mother’s grave, and there takes a new lover for one night.

His family considers that the book, although left unpolished by Gabo, still carries the author’s recognizable beautiful prose and his deep knowledge of the human being. – Rappler.com

Called the Reading Club 2000, Guanlao’s library showcases a wide variety of books he hopes will inspire people, especially young curious minds to read, especially at this time when reading ability among Philippine students remains low.

“The books that one can see here are those used in K-12 (elementary books), novels which students and enthusiasts can make use of,” the 72-year-old Guanlao said at his home crammed with thousands of books in stacks. 

“There are also spiritual books for those who are looking for religious knowledge, hardbound and softbound books, autobiographies, and many different genre’s that one can enjoy, all for free,” he said. 

What started as a 50-book display on the sidewalk fronting his home more than two decades ago, Guanlao’s collection has grown exponentially over the years, thanks to a steady supply of books from donors, some of whom opted to stay anonymous.

“They just leave boxes of books outside my house,” said Guanlao, who has also started shipping reading material to public schools in far-flung communities. 

Philippine students are facing learning setbacks with math, science and reading scores among the lowest in the world, according to the Program for International Student Assessment. 

“My mission is to give away used and donated books to others at no cost and to promote education through literature,” Guanlao said. – Rappler.com

Mindanao will get its fair share of new books, exciting publications, and well-loved titles in the much-anticipated Mindanao Book Fair set from March 13 to 15, 2024, at the Ateneo de Davao University’s Arrupe Hall.

Book enthusiasts, writers, and literature aficionados will gather for a three-day immersion into the world of books, ideas, and creativity at the Mindanao Book Fair which serves as a platform for promoting literacy and showcasing the rich literary legacy of Mindanao. 

Here’s what to expect at the Mindanao Book Fair:

Book exhibitions

A diverse collection of literary works from local and national publishers and booksellers, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature will be featured.

Book fair attendees will have the opportunity to discover new releases, bestsellers, and hidden gems from exhibitors including the following:

• ABC Educational Development Center Children’s Book, Inc.
• Bayard Assumption Media Foundation, Inc.
• Bookquick Marketing
• C&E Adaptive Learning Solutions
• Cengage Learning Asia Pte-Ltd
• Cerebro Solutions Inc.
• Edushop
• Fastbooks Educational Supply Inc.
• Forefront Book Co., Inc.
• J&M Magazine Subscription International
• Megatexts Phil., Inc.
• Mind Mover Publishing House, Inc.
• New Century Books & General Merchandise
• OMF Literature, Inc.
• Phoenix Educational Systems, Inc.
• Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
• S & D Mind Tools
• Serv Enterprises
• The Inteligente Publishing, Inc.
• St. Matthew’s Publishing Corporation
• Vibal Group, Inc.
• Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc.
• WS Pacific Publications, Inc/Learning is Fun.

Teaching and education workshops

Talks and seminars led by industry experts will be highlighted in sessions such as “Multisensory Techniques in Teaching Reading and Mathematics to Preschoolers” by St. Matthew’s Publishing Corporation.

Language and literacy for a world in transition talk

Drawing from his experience as an educator, Xavier School Nuvali assistant principal and literacy advocate Frederick Perez will explore the evolving landscape of language and literacy and share valuable insights and strategies to equip learners with language skills to navigate today’s world.

“We are excited to welcome everyone to the Mindanao Book Fair. This event is not just about books; it is a testament to our shared passion for literature and sense of community,” said Irene Lloren, president of Primetrade Asia, Inc.

The Mindanao Book Fair is mounted by Primetrade Asia, Inc. in partnership with the Davao Association of Catholic Schools — an association of 70 non-stock, non-profit private Catholic schools, colleges, and universities under the Dioceses of Davao, Digos, Tagum, and Mati or the DADITAMA ecclesiastical sub-region located in the six cities and five provinces of Davao.

For more information and updates, contact Primetrade Asia, Inc. at (632) 8400-9680 or (632) 8896-0682, 09477618201, or send an email at info@primetradeasia.com. —Rappler.com

Swisher has managed to write a laugh-out-loud funny book about the grim reality of what Silicon Valley has wrought upon the world. It is gossip of the highest order and she shares anecdote after disturbing anecdote about the small group of mostly white men with chronically juvenile tendencies who’ve amassed unprecedented power and wealth through the tech that governs nearly every aspect of our lives. 

She intentionally punches up and elevates name calling to an art form, reminding readers – if not the old media barons and tech titans themselves – that these guys are too often more cringeworthy than praiseworthy, more willfully ignorant than omniscient, more delusional than enlightened. 

How does Swisher get away with it? Maybe because she’s as audacious as her subjects and they know it. 

Swisher fell in love with tech in the 1990s, enamored by “tech’s ability to transform the world, to solve problems that had plagued us for centuries.” But the romance didn’t last. “The Internet, which others had mocked, had become nothing short of miraculous. And, as it turned out, also disastrous.”

She recounts a conversation with Rappler co-founder Maria Ressa in 2017, who warned that Facebook was ignoring the real-world threats enabled by its platform. From that moment, “as much as I tried to sound alarms, I could not stop them. Each year since has brought bigger and fresher tech messes,” Swisher writes.

Play Video

She lays the blame squarely with the tech barons, venture capitalists, and the constellation of toxic characters who enabled them. Reading the book reminded me of the apocryphal Margaret Atwood quote: “Men are afraid women will laugh at them, women are afraid men will kill them.”

In the ensuing years she says, “a truism began to form in my brain about the lack of women and people of color in the leadership ranks of tech: The innovators and executives ignored issues of safety not because they were necessarily awful, but because they had never felt unsafe a day in their lives. Their personal experience informed the development of unfettered platforms. And, in turn, this inability to understand the consequences of their inventions began to curdle the sunny optimism of tech that had illuminated the sector.”

Swisher’s memoir is also part tech industry blooper reel and part case study about how to make it as an enterprising journalist even as she laments the survival of the news business. One of her early hunches that “the Internet is going to grind down all of media into dust” turns out to be true enough.

The book isn’t all scathing wit and pointed barbs. Swisher is wistful at times, musing on her own mortality and that of the visionary figures she admired, most notably Apple’s Steve Jobs. 

She holds out hope that we can curb Big Tech’s rapaciousness. “Despite the heartbreak, we must act. And we must do it quickly to push technology toward its potential for positive impact,” she concludes.

Swisher’s tech love story will surely be Silicon Valley’s favorite hate-read. – Rappler.com

Lara Honrado is a co-founder of Ouano Foundation. She is a writer and former public servant based in Vancouver, Canada.

The non-profit organization’s Doulos Hope vessel is currently docked at Subic Bay’s Rivera North Wharf Port since February 13 until March 3. Afterwards, it will be docking at the San Fernando International Seaport in San Fernando, La Union from March 7 to 24, followed by Manila on March 28 to April 23, and lastly, at Batangas City from April 16 to 28.

Based on its Subic leg, the floating book fair is open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 2 to 9 pm, with last entry at 8 pm. There is a P50 entrance fee per head, with free entry for kids under 12 and seniors over 60.

“Priority is given to online booking. You are welcome to queue up but we do not guarantee that everyone can walk in especially on weekends,” Doulos Hope Philippines said on Facebook. As of writing, only Subic Bay’s slots are open for registration; registration for the upcoming three ports are to follow.

Doulos Hope Philippines encourages only small groups for visits and clarifies that the vessel is not PWD-friendly.

My Doulos Hope is one of two vessels owned by GBA Ships, the non-profit organization based in Germany. The fifth vessel was just recently commissioned for service in May 2023 in Singapore. The other vessel, Logos Hope, is currently at Gqeberha, South Africa.

The “largest floating library in the world” visits different global ports of call for several weeks at a time and open the gangways to thousands of visitors every day. The book fair offers diverse titles and genres of quality literature at affordable costs.

The “ship of hope” was last in the Philippines in February 2012, carrying more than 5,000 titles at a fraction of the cost. The crew of the ship then comprised about 56 nationalities.

Good Books for All (GBA Ships e.V.) is a non-profit organization based in Germany. Since 1970, the organization’s vessels have made over 1,600 port visits in over 160 countries and territories, donating hundreds of tons of books and enjoyed by over 50 million visitors.

GBA Ships aims to share knowledge through the books they carry and the international crews working on board, highlighting “international goodwill and understanding.” They also provide aid and care to the countries they visit by participating in local community projects and promoting literacy and education, cross-cultural co-operation, and social awareness. – Steph Arnaldo/Rappler.com

The confirmation was posted on his Facebook profile, written by his daughter Wenna Louise.

“Dear friends and family, it’s [with a heavy] heart that we write this post. My father Santiago B. Villafania passed away at 1 am this morning at Nazareth Hospital,” Wenna wrote.

She said her father’s remains would be brought to their home in Buenlag, Mangaldan.

Prior to this, Wenna posted an update that Villafania was fighting for his life in Nazareth General Hospital.

The grim news of the poet’s death came two hours after.

Villafania was a true-blue Pangasinense, being born in Santa Barbara town on January 31, 1971. He was a champion of Pangasinan heritage.

As a poet and writer, Villafania authored six books containing anlong (Pangasinan term for poetry), sonnets, haikus, and other literary pieces written in Pangasinan and English:

• Balikas na Caboloan (Voices from Caboloan, 2005)
• Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles (2007)
• Pinabli & Other Poems (2012)
• Bonsaic Verses (2012)
• Ghazalia: Maralus ya Ayat (2013)
• As I Tango (2016)

He served as the vice president of the the Philippine Center of International PEN, a group of writers promoting cooperation between writers, literature development, and freedom of expression. He was also the national head of its Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee. 

His literary contributions and focus on Pangasinan earned him the province’s highest honors – he was a 2010 Asna (Salt) Awardee for Literature, one of the first awards given.

Below is a piece translated by Villafania in his 2016 book As I Tango:

A Night Piece
(from a Pangasinan serenade entitled “Malinak Lay Labi”)

The night is calm, my love / and time is fleeting still
The wind is breathing low / kissed by the evening dew 
How sweet it is to dream / that I have to wake for you
Your fair attemper face / I shall always caress
O when the night is come / and you, my love, I see 
the sadness all is gone / buried deeply in my soul 
Whenever I recall / loving ways you are wont to 
I shall not forget you / until I am laid to rest.

In a statement, the PEN Philippines said that while mourning Villafania’s passing, it would also “remember his tremendous presence and celebrate his life and his vital work,” which had had “a global impact.”  

“He was a champion of the language of his native Pangasinan, and his deep love for his tongue and his culture was felt not only among his fellow Filipinos, but across the world, through poems that have been translated into several languages and read in many global settings,” the organization said. – Rappler.com

His first book, Windmills: Bearings, is a compilation of the first six issues of his series Windmills, which he describes as a “slice-of-life autobiographical literary furry komik.” It also happens to be the first-ever graphic novel published by the University of Sto. Tomas Publishing House, and came out in late 2023.

In this Rappler interview, Nicolas shares his origin story as a comic book artist, the trials of getting his work published, and what budding comic artists should know before getting into the industry.

First thing’s first – for the uninitiated, is there a difference between komiks and comics? 

I think it’s my close friend and constant collaborator, Adam David, who started using “komiks” recently, and I just kinda piggybacked on it since we travel pretty much in the same circles. Personally I’m a huge fan of the ’70s underground comix movement started by Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar and other American comix stalwarts, so using the Pinoy “k” to denote PH komiks and komix just seems like a natural progression, but as far as any real delineation of what qualifies one’s work to be called komiks/komix, I’d say just comics produced for a Pinoy audience. Komiks with a “k” was already the norm back in the golden day of komiks. Even though the margins of what is mainstream and not mainstream here in the Philippine context is razor-thin, I think it’s just fun branding. Seems like that is something that one should be wary of in this day and age, to market and sell yourself in as few words as possible. 

How did you first get into doing comics?

My brother-in-law lent me Watchmen and Dark Knight as a high school freshman, which led me to read more comics. He was graduating as a med student so I bought him Gerry Alanguilan’s Wasted, which was my introduction to making komiks in a local setting. There was this interview in the back where he talked about how when he was reading an interview of Whilce Portacio (X-men artist) and he found out that Whilce was Filipino, it made him think that he could also make comics. Which made me think, oh Gerry is also Filipino, I’m Filipino, I can also make comics. There’s a repeated recursiveness in how things pan out in my life, which does entertain me a lot. I’m Filipino, I can also make comics.

The ethos of just doing, with the skills that you had at the time because you had an emotion and a story that you needed to get out, has carried me through pretty much through my high school, college, young adult, and adult years. This led me to find other personal works, like Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, and Oliver Pulumbarit’s Lexy, Nance, and Argus (a seminal queer Filipino work, also serialized in Pulp Magazine). But apart from that, it was reading Sir Gerry’s blog and joining Komikon.

I want to encourage people to express themselves and not worry about if it’s any good or not, at least in the trial period where you are just starting. The idea of just doing regardless of audience has always appealed to me, but even as I try to reach more people right now with Windmills: Bearings, I want to keep some of that one-on-one personal connection with anybody who would care to buy my work.

The title of your book is “Windmills: Bearings.” Could you tell us the story behind this title?

Windmills as a whole, is a reference to Don Quixote. I have not read the actual novel, but I did grow up remembering a specifically terrifying public domain cartoon that was shown on IBC 13. Don Quixote is also a street next to where I lived in UST, that had a karinderya that I would eat at as a UST student. As I understand it, Don Quixote mistook windmills as giants to be slain, and it is the general idea of mistaking something mundane and common for something not just fantastical, but is out to hurt you, and so you run at it at full speed with your lance and trip and fall. Nearly every Windmills strip is just about me working from an assumption and proving that assumption to be wrong, and quieting down. 

Bearings, is because it’s another pun, which I used a lot in this book. To be honest, I think it’s the only one that really works, as it’s about finding where you are on your map.

You describe “Windmills” as a “slice-of-life autobiographical literary furry komik.” This definitely sounds different from the typical superhero-type comics known in the mainstream. Was getting an audience a challenge given that this kind of comic is not what Filipinos are used to? 

I made Windmills because I was making esoteric drug freak-out comix inspired by the underground movement. The comix were about Rico Yan and Kurt Cobain and the 27 Club, and John Wilkes Booth in a dreamscape. I decided that I wanted more of an audience, so I started drawing cute animals. With that said, none of the early strips scream marketable. Who knew existential dread and confusion would limit my reach! Walls of text and anxiety is a lot to ask of a young comic audience.

What was the best part of creating this book? What was the worst?

The best part was creating the book and the worst part is selling the book. It was originally published in 2015 and had been turned down by publishers before. If it wasn’t for the efforts of Professor Nerisa Guevara, I wouldn’t have gotten even a meeting with the publisher. There are so many people who will tell you your work deserves to be read and seen, but only a few will go to actual lengths to help you. She is one of those people. I am lucky to have her in my corner.

The book is old and it holds all of the thoughts of a younger me. I didn’t think this new edition would get a publisher; I really had given up on it. In truth I gave this to my publisher because it was the only book I knew I had complete ownership of. The story of the making of this edition is in the intro of the book, so you can read that. A lot of people helped me in proofreading the stories and seeing if they work, but I know that they are my stories; they happened to me for better or worse.

I think the best part is realizing that the me from 15 years ago is saving the me from now. That no matter how old and possibly outdated this book might be for the market, it’s still there. I’ve been trying to advocate for myself more, because it isn’t enough to just draw and write; you have to get yourself out there in a way that gets you your audience.

You are also a stand-up comic. Does this inform how you make comics, and the other way around? 

Well, Windmills was always supposed to be a comedy. It is a comedy to the people I originally made read (Mimi Johnson, a huge influence on me starting out as a writer and artist). At the very end of the book, during the break-up sequence, I do draw myself as doing stand-up comedy, but I hadn’t started then. I didn’t even know there was a stand-up scene here. It’s really something that in the years after doing the first edition of the book, I ended up just trying so hard to get away from making comics by being a shitty stand-up comic. The fact that I thought Windmills was ever a comedy says so much about how not a good stand-up comedian I am. Haha. Mid. But in a funny way, after the pandemic, when I started drawing visual aids onstage, it solidified my act. Trying to get away from being a comic book artist hampered my own comedy, and accepting it as a vital part of me actually unlocked my potential as a stand-up comedian.

What’s your advice to someone who wants to get into comics? 

• Don’t make an epic. It’s better to draw a hundred short works and understand how to tell a short story than a long one that becomes your ball and chain. I started making autobiographical comics so I didn’t have to think of how to end stories. A cartoonist is a body of work, not just a specific book or strip.
• It’s either you want to draw well, or you wanna tell a story. It’s the spectrum in between that you’re going to discover as you practice making comics. Drawing a stick figure and a fully realized anatomically correct human, you’ll find that one is definitely harder, but both can tell relatively the same story. So why not start out simple, and build from there?
• Play with it. Either play with the form, the drawing, the writing, and the distribution. But to make something where the act in itself is rewarding and cathartic, that will help you through some very hard times, as cartooning isn’t exactly a lucrative profession. The best one can hope from being a cartoonist is to be relatively financially stable, not rich.
• Read more than comics. The worst thing you can do for yourself is to limit your pool of influences to just comics. There’s a whole spectrum of art and literature you can gain influence from. There are hundreds of countries each with their own comics tradition to understand and respect. 
• Drawing the same thing over and over again perfects it.

– Rappler.com

Windmills is available on the University of Sto. Tomas Publishing House’s Shopee page. Nicolas will be part of stand-up comedy show Leapin’ Laughs at Vault Greenhills on February 29.

For National Arts Month, the University of the Philippines (UP) will hold a “Tanghal Tertulia” to honor three of its living National Artists on the occasion of their birthdays – Ramon P. Santos, Gemino H. Abad, and Virgilio S. Almario – on February 26, Monday, from 4 pm to 7 pm at the Amphitheater of the UP Executive House.

Tanghal Tertulia, intended to celebrate the lives and works of the artists, also showcases UP’s pride in its role in the history and evolution of Philippine arts and culture. Indeed, the University has produced 44 out of the country’s 81 National Artists, and the Order of National Artists, or Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining, is the highest national recognition given to Filipinos who have significantly contributed to the development of Philippine arts.

University Professor Emeritus Abad became a National Artist for Literature in 2022; Professor Almario (better known by his pen name “Rio Alma”) was awarded for Literature in 2003; and Professor Emeritus Santos was awarded for Music in 2014. All three are widely recognized for their prolific contributions to the fields of education, art and literature, criticism, and cultural work.

The event, with a title inspired by the Spanish concept of tertulia as a term for artistic or literary gatherings, also includes performances from other notable figures in UP’s cultural scene, including: Jose Dalisay Jr., Isabela Banzon, Michael Coroza, Vim Nadera, and Olive Nieto as readers; and Noel Cabangon, Eman Jamisolamin, Mika Lastrilla, Raul Navarro, and Hannah Osorio as musicians. There will also be presentations and performances by Dr. Verne De la Pena, the UP Concert Chorus, and Katubo, as well as the National Artists themselves. 

UP President Angelo Jimenez, who will give opening remarks for the evening, has expressed full support for Tanghal Tertulia as a tribute to UP’s commitment to strengthening, preserving, and enriching the country’s rich artistic heritage and vibrant, living cultural landscape.

The event is organized by the Office of the President together with Likhaan: the UP Institute of Creative Writing, the College of Music and College of Arts and Letters in UP Diliman, the Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs (OVPPA), and TVUP.

Tanghal Tertulia will be available for online viewing at the TVUP links:  YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@TVUPph; Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/TVUP.ph/

For the cross posting in online platforms, contact 0917 869 3718 (Claudette) for the link.

Limited slots due to limited seating capacity are available for UP faculty, students, staff and alumni.  RSVP on a first come, first served basis at https://forms.gle/JQdriexw2VJJ8qbU6. Present a valid ID at the registration table at the event site.

For media inquiries, contact Ms. Jingjing Romero, Contact Numbers: 0917 853 2415 / 0918 904 2415

Since 2008, the MCC and NBDB have been giving Filipino authors across the country recognition for their craft through the prestigious literary awards ceremony. For its 41st edition, a total of 35 titles were awarded across the literary and non-literary divisions.

The Ateneo de Manila University Press was also named the Publisher of the Year for the sixth year in a row.

Here is the full list of winners of the 41st National Book Awards:

Literary division

• Yñiga by Glenn Diaz, Best Novel in English
• El Arbol de la Alegria: Southern Quartet 1 by RM Topacio-Aplaon, Best Novel in Filipino
• Song of the Mango and Other New Myths by Vida Cruz-Borja, National Artist Cirilo F. Bautista Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in English
• Ang Buang ng Bayan: Mga Maikling Kuwento by Rowena P. Festin, Gerardo B. Cabochan Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in Filipino
• Even Ducks Get Liver Cancer and other medical misadventures by Wildredo Liangco, Pablo A. Tan Prize for Best Book of Nonfiction Prose in English
• Rodolfo Biazon: Soldier, Solon, Statesman by Eric Ramos, Pablo A. Tan Prize for Best Book of Nonfiction Prose in English
• Pasasaan by Jesus Aman Calvario, Best Book of Nonfiction Prose in Filipino
• Kalandrakas Part I, 1890-1945: Stories and Storytellers of/on Regions in Mindanao, 1890-1990 and Kalandrakas Part II, 1946-1990: Stories and Storytellers of/on Regions in Mindanao, 1890-1990 by Ricardo M. De Ungria (Editor), Best Anthology in English
• Plus/+ at Iba Plus, Maramihan: New Philippine Nonfiction on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities by Rolando B. Tolentino and Chuckberry J. Pascual (Editors), Best Anthology in Filipino
• Isang Dalumat ng Panahon by Christian Jil R. Benitez, Best Book of Literary Criticism/Cultural Studies
• Alternative Cinema: The Unchronicled History of Alternative Cinema in the Philippines by Nick Deocampo, Best Book on Media Studies
• Coming Home to the Island: Poems by Arlene J. Yandug, Philippine Literary Arts Council Prize for Best Book of Poetry in English
• Sa Ika-ilang Sirkulo ng Impyerno by Miguel Paolo Celestial, Victorio C. Valledor Prize for Best Book of Poetry in Filipino
• Death be Damned, written by Mike Alcazaren, Noel Pascual, and AJ Bernardo, and illustrated by AJ Bernardo and Josel Nicolas, Best Book of Graphic Novel and Comics in English
• Josefina, written by Russell L. Molina and illustrated by Ace C. Enriquez, Best Book of Graphic Novel and Comics in Filipino
• It’s a Men’s World by Bebang Siy, translated by Ken Ishikawa, Best Translated Book in English
• Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco, translated by Chuckberry J. Pascual, Best Translated Book in Filipino
• Nada by Carmen Laforet, translated by Alice M. Sun-Cua, Best Translated Book in Hiligaynon
• Sarena’s Story (Suy-Suy ni Sarena): The Loss of a Kingdom (In Paglawa’ sin Hambuuk Sultaniyya) by Criselda Yabes, translated by Doc Benj. Bengahan, Best Translated Book in Tausug
• Huni at Pakpak: Mga Dula, Mga Sanaysay by Luna Sicat Cleto, Best Book on Drama and Film
• Arkipelago: Nobela by Januar Yap, Best Novel in Binisaya
• Dili Pwede Mogawas ug Ubang Mga Sugilanon (Can’t Go Out and Other Stories) by Elizabeth Joy Serrano-Quijano, Best Book of Short Fiction in Binisaya
• Sinug-Ang: A Cebuano Trio by Erlinda Alburo, Ester Tapia, and Corazon Almerino, Best Anthology in Binisaya
• Ang Nakayatak kay Nayatakan (Who Steps Upon is Stepped Upon) by Adonis Durado, Best Book of Poetry in Binisaya

Non-literary division

• Julio Nakpil (1867-1960) Collected Works Volume I: Piano, Vocal, and Chamber Music by Maria Alexandria Iñigo Chua (Editor), Alfonso T. Ongpin Prize for Best Book on Art
• Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader by Jose Jowel Canuday and Joselito Sescon (Editors), Elfren S. Cruz Prize for Best Book in the Social Sciences
• Life-times of Becoming Human by Neferti X. M. Tadiar, Best Book in Philosophy
• The Chinese Mestizos of Cebu City 1750-1900 by Michael Cullinane, John C. Kaw Prize for Best Book on History
• The You-have-to-go-through-a-lot-of-crap-to-get-good-ideas book by David Guerrero, Best Book on Humor, Sports, Lifestyle, and Business
• Flavors of Iloilo by Rafael J. Jardeleza, Jr., Best Book on Food
• The Role of Rainforestation in Forest Landscape Restoration and Conservation in the Island Municipality of Pilar, Camotes, Cebu by Guiraldo C. Fernandez, Jr. and Marlito M. Bande, Best Book in Science
• The Islands of Faith: Crossroads of Mission by Andrew Gimenez Recepcion, Best Book in Spirituality and Theology
• Raising Quality Education in the Philippines: Selected Speeches and Writings by Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ, Best Book in Professions
• Duterte Watch: Descent into Authoritarianism by Vergel O. Santos, Best Book in Journalism

Design

• Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader by Jose Jowel Canuday and Joselito Sescon (Editors), design by Karl Castro, Best Book Design – Rappler.com

The University of the Philippines Press (UP Press) is set to host a mass book launch titled Semeyaan: Paglulunsad ng mga Bagong Aklat ng UP Press 2023. The event aims to highlight the titles published by the UP Press in 2023.

The term “Semeyaan” is an agricultural tradition of the Erumanen ne Menuvu from the province of Cotabato, Philippines. It is a thanksgiving ritual related to the anticipation of a bountiful harvest and favorable weather. It also signifies a new beginning, which is the hope of the UP Press as an organization as it prepares for its 59^th anniversary.

Semeyaan is scheduled for February 28, from 2 to 5 pm, at the Atencio-Libunao Hall in F. Agoncillo Street, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Here’s a list of the titles with a brief description of each:

Here’s a list of the titles according to their respective categories:

Attendees are encouraged to come in semi-formal attire. – Rappler.com